1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a massage device for the rolling massage of skin areas and reflex zones of the human body. The massage device includes a shaft mounted on a handle and massage rings or rolling bodies which are freely rotatably mounted on the shaft. The massage rings or rolling bodies have projections which are uniformly distributed in circumferential direction. Preferably, the projections are needle tips.
2. Description of the Related Art
A massage device of the above-described type is already known from EP-Bi-O 142 132. This known massage device has been found very useful in practical application. This is because the massage device has an effect which is like that of acupuncture; in other words, the massage device provides a point-by-point effect and, therefore, can be used in self-treatment for carrying out a rolling massage of skin areas and reflex zones. It is important in this connection that the skin stimulations produced by the rolling massage frequently make it possible to achieve favorable therapeutic effects if a good surface massage is carried out at aching body areas and/or the respective reflex zones.
In the known massage device described above, the handle and the shaft with the massage rings or rolling bodies are connected through a transverse joint, so that the angle between the handle and the shaft is adjustable out of the axially aligned position at least to a limited extent. The reason for this adjustability is that it makes possible an optimum surface rolling massage in self-treatment even at those aching body areas or reflex zones to be treated when they are not easily accessible, for example, in the area of the back. The hand holding and/or guiding the massage device can carry out the necessary movements without having to assume extreme positions which would make a desirable intensive manipulation difficult and, thus, would impair the therapeutic effect.
A massage device of the above-described type is disclosed in DE-U-90 10 455 and EP-A1-0 465 758. In that massage device, the shaft supporting the massage rings or rolling bodies is arranged on the side of the handle in a fork-shaped member which is pivotally connected to the handle by means of a pivoting axis. The pivoting axis is arranged in the middle of the fork-shaped member and, thus, in the middle of the massage rings or rolling bodies.
The above-described configuration of the massage device is intended to make it possible that it can be used simply and effectively even on body areas which are more curved without the danger of injury to the skin. This massage device, which constitutes a modification as compared to the massage device discussed first, has primarily the purpose that the handle has such a distance from the body area to be treated that contact of the skin by the handle is excluded during massaging. The pivoting suspension of the shaft supporting the massage rings or rolling bodies on the side of the handle is to make it possible that the position of the handle is automatically adapted to the curvature of the skin areas to be massaged even when the angular position of the handle is constant, so that a good contact of the massage rings or rolling bodies on the skin is ensured.
In practical use of massage devices of the type mentioned last, it has been found that in most cases of application, the therapeutic effect which can be achieved with the massage device of the type described first, cannot be achieved or can only be achieved to a limited extent by the massage device of the type mentioned last. This is because the contact pressure exerted through the shaft on the massage rings or rolling bodies by the handle on the skin areas or body areas to be treated is exactly achieved practically only in the immediate vicinity of the pivoting axis, i.e., in the region of a plane of action extending through the pivoting axis and intersecting at a right angle the shaft supporting the massage rings or rolling bodies. On the other hand, at all locations remote from this plane of action, the contact pressure deviates from the desired value in the positive and/or negative sense to a greater or lesser extent and, thus, significantly impairs the desirable advantageous therapeutic effect as it can be achieved with the massage device of the type mentioned first which has been proved effective in practical use.